


and i know that you’ll be by my side

by luciimariiellii



Series: high flying birds [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Attempted Sexual Assault, Drug Use, Gen, Sibling Bonding, Time Travel, there is attempted sexual assault but very briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 03:49:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17911463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luciimariiellii/pseuds/luciimariiellii
Summary: Klaus is the only constant in Vanya’s life. He’s fucking insane, but he’s always there. Even when she doesn’t expect it.(A series of moments between Klaus and Vanya, because their relationship is seriously underdeveloped.)





	and i know that you’ll be by my side

**Author's Note:**

> heyyyyy bitches guess who’s back on her bullshit 
> 
> shout out to the umbrella academy discord because i def wouldn’t have finished this if i didn’t have y’all
> 
> and remember kids: always stan klaus and vanya

It’s been a week since Vanya stopped coming to the table for meals.

When asked about her, Dad tells the children Vanya is being quarantined for her own good. And every single time he says that, it puts Klaus on edge.

He knows, of course, that Vanya is different. That she doesn’t have powers like the rest of them. But being locked away ‘for her own good’ like Klaus himself so often is isn’t an experience he wants his sister to have to go through. Granted, it isn’t the same for Vanya - after all, she can’t talk to the dead like Klaus can. But it still scares him, because if he could barely survive that, how could little Vanya, who cries when she steps on ants?

Klaus finds it difficult to stopglancing at Vanya’s seat. He keeps thinking that maybe next time he looks, Vanya will be there, but her seat remains empty throughout dinner.

 

 

 

Night time finds Klaus slipping out of bed as quietly as possible, motivated to find his sister. He shoots a worried look at Ben’s room across the hall and prays none of his siblings wake up.

He makes it as far as the basement door before Pogo stops him and brings him back to bed.

 

 

 

Vanya is back at the table the next morning. Klaus and Five send a barrage of questions at her, but Dad shuts them down quickly.

She seems... perfectly fine. Which relieves Klaus, until Dad says, “Don’t forget your medication, Vanya,” and Mom sets a small pill bottle next to Vanya’s plate.

“What’s that for?” Klaus asks, leaning over the table so he can see her better.

“Number Four, no talking at the table!”

 

 

 

He sneaks out of bed that night, again, to find Vanya. Fortunately, Klaus knows where to find her this time. Despite knowing she’s fast asleep - what a goody two shoes - he knocks (as gently as possible) on the door. When his sister doesn’t respond, he slips into her room.

“Vanya?” He whispers, “Van?”

Vanya rolls over in her bed but doesn’t open her eyes.

“God, your room is tiny. And *clean*.”

Klaus pokes his sister on the shoulder. Despite his efforts, she doesn’t wake up, so he slaps her on the forehead. Vanya lets out a squeak as her eyes fly open, and heshushes her quickly.

“...Klaus?” She asks, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“Yeah.” He pats the space on the bed next to her, “Can I sit?”

“Uh... yeah. Sure.”

He is careful to avoid Vanya’s legs as he settles on her woefully small bed. “Where were you the last week?”

“Sick,” Vanya replies, sitting up slowly, “And contagious. So I had to be quarantined.”

Klaus calls bullshit. “And the pills?”

“They’re for my nerves.”

More bullshit. Vanya is agenerally more anxious person than most, sure, but not to the point that medication is necessary.

“Hmm... where did dear old Dad lock you up?”

“Uh,” Vanya furrows her eyebrows, “I don’t know. The room was soundproof, I think. Empty, ‘cept for my bed.”

“Huh. Are you sure that’s all, Van?” He asks, laying back.

“Yeah.”

Klaus hums and closes his eyes.

“Klaus?” Vanya prods hesitantly at his cheek. “...Klaus?”

He’s fast asleep.

Dad chews them out for an hour when Mom finds Klaus in Vanya’s room the next morning.

 

 

 

When they are ten, the seven of them sneak out to Griddy’s Doughnuts for the first time.

It’s Five’s idea. The lady at the counter is nice enough. She doesn’t question why seven ten year olds are there at eleven PM, for which Klaus will be eternally grateful.

There isn’t a big enough booth to seat the seven of them. Vanya is the first to volunteer to sit separately, because of course she is. Her self esteem goes further and further down the drain every day. Klaus offers to sit with her, and where Klaus goes, Ben follows.

Ben and Vanya sit across from Klaus, because Klaus is long limbed and takes up too much space on the seat, according to his siblings. A woman on the other side of the room has been staring at Klaus for a few minutes. She isn’t pointed outto his siblings.

They can’t see her anyway.

The waitress comes by, and they order their doughnuts and hot chocolates. Klaus and Ben talk and joke, but aside from the occasional chuckle, Vanya is characteristically silent.

Klaus pauses and takes a moment to look at his sister. Her gaze is across the room, and he just knows she is somewhere else, somewhere better, in her mind, but her hands shake and her leg bounces rapidly under the table.

“Hey, Van,” Klaus says, throwing a crumpled up napkin at her, “you gonna talk, or what?”

Vanya yelps. “Sorry!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ben says. He shoots a glare at Klaus, who replies by sticking out his tongue. “Is something wrong, Vanya?”

Their sister smiles, and Klaus can tell it‘s real no matter how awkward it looks. “I’m fine, I just - I just don’t get to leave the Academy often.”

Klaus is confused at first, but after a moment of consideration, he understands. All the time he and the others spend out on missions, Vanya spends in the mansion. All the time they spend sparring in the courtyard, Vanya spends inside studying. She barely even gets to go outside at all.

If they’re all prisoners, Vanya is in solitary confinement.

Klaus and Ben sneak out on their own a lot. From then on, Klaus always makes it a point to invite Vanya along.

 

 

 

They are thirteen when Vanya catches Klaus popping a pill.

The two of them are planning on sneaking out to watch a movie. Vanya is supposed to meet him inhis room at 9:30 sharp. It‘s 9:20.

“Oh my god, Klaus! What the hell is that?!”

Klaus blinks owlishly. “Don’t tell Dad.”

“I-I won’t, just...” Vanya rushes up to him. “What was it?”

Klaus shrugs. Vanya stares at him with wide eyes. “You don’t know?” His hair flops in front of his eyes as he nods.

“Promise me you won’t do it again,” Vanya begs, “please. Things like that can really mess with you.”

“...Okay. I promise.”

(He doesn’t keep that promise. Not by a long shot.)

 

 

 

A few months later, Five runs away.Klaus wants to do the same; Vanya begs him not to leave her, and he promises he never will.

(Another promise that is soon broken.)

 

 

 

Ben dies when they are fifteen. Klaus and Vanya stop sneaking out.

 

 

 

Klaus actually does run away when they are sixteen.

He leaves in the middle of the night. Vanya is the only one he says goodbye too. Now Ben and Klaus are gone, and she is so, so lonely without them.

Vanya retreats further and further into herself, and she doesn’t hesitate to move out the day her eighteenth birthday hits.

 

 

 

Klaus and Vanya do not see each other again until their twentieth birthday.

Vanya stopped celebrating her birthday several years ago. Her day had gone as usual, just as lonely and repetitive as always. That is, lonely and repetitive until she comes home from rehearsal and only has one foot through the doorway when she sees Klaus making his way through her window. (Her window on the second floor of the building.)

Vanya pauses for a moment, shocked, but she quickly regains her composure. It’s hard to shock her when she’d once had a brother with a horror beast in his stomach.

“Klaus,” she says, trying her best not to sound as though she‘s about to collapse to the floor and sob. Her brother finally gets through the window and faceplants straight onto the floor, then jumps to his feet.

“Vanya!” He exclaims. He is wearing an oversized, hole filled jacket with faux fur lining, a tank top that is two sizes two small, and baggy jeans. One of his combat boots has a hole in the toe.

“Klaus,” Vanya says again, “What are you doing here? Not that I’m not happy to see you.” (Ecstatic to see him. She’s been so lonely for so long-)

Klaus bites his lip. “I need your help,” he says. He looks insane, with that outfit and his wide eyes and the fact that he was probably (definitely) high.

The fabric of her jacket is rough against her fingers as she pulls it off. “*You* need my help?”

Klaus nods and doesn’t respond before he starts walking to Vanya’s kitchen. As he is walking, he turns away from her for a second and mutters something as though there is another person in the room.

For a second, Vanya thinks he is talking to a spirit. Then she recalls the fact that her brother is super high.

She shrugs her violin case off her shoulder and sets it on the floor under the coat rack. “Klaus,” she calls as she follows after him, “you gonna tell me what’s wrong, or what?”

Klaus examines the contents of her fridge for a few moments, making her wait for an explanations. Finally, he pulls a jar of peanut butter out and looks to her expectantly. Vanya crosses the room to the cutlery drawer.

“Oh, I just pissed someone off,” he says nonchalantly. He accepts a spoon from Vanya with a big, goofy smile and unscrews the lid of the jar as she goes to fill up two glasses of water.

“Pissed someone off? What exactly does *that* entail?”

“Oh, you know - thank you!” Klaus takes a big, exaggerated drink of his water. “Pawned some watch off to some guy. The idiot was too stupid to realize it wasn’t real gold. Now I’ve got a bunch of wannabe gang members after me so I gotta lay low for a little while. Normal Tuesday.”

Vanya closes her eyes and sighs. “So you came to *my apartment*?”

Klaus shoves a spoonful of peanut butter in his mouth and takes another drink of water. “Yeah.”

Vanya sighs again. “Did anyone see you?”

Realization dawns on Klaus’s face as he realizes what she is asking. “Oh, no! I don’t think so. We’re good, dude.”

Vanya rolls her eyes and leans back against the counter top. Honestly? She wasn’t that worried - she and Klaus could surely hold their own against a couple of thugs. Vanya may not have powers, but unlike most people, she was still taught the most efficient way to snap a neck, the safest way to treat a bullet wound, and how to handle kidnapping, torture, and interrogation as a child.

(And she’s not going to complain too much to Klaus, because she’s happy to be with the one sibling she has left who actually cares about her.)

Klaus is in her apartment for two weeks, and, quite frankly, they’re the best two weeks Vanya’s had in a while. Surprisingly, it only takes her an hour to get Klaus to drop all of the drugs on his person so she can throw them in the dumpster out back. (“I don’t have any, Van, you know that! I promised!” “You broke that promise two days later, shut up and drop them.”)

She ends up buying a super-sized jar of peanut butter when Klaus eats the first one in a night. After rehearsal everyday, Klaus begs her to play her violin for him and he always sits quietly and listens, paying close attention, as she plays. Every night Klaus, with an uncharacteristically worried look on his face, pushes the coffee table in front of the door. “I don’t want them to hurt *you* for something *I* did, Van!” He exclaims every time she asks why he’s checking the locks on the windows for the third time that hour.

Vanya asks him every once in a while to help with the chores - and every single time, without fail, he comes up with a reason not to. “There’s a ghost sitting on my legs,” he laments as he splays himself dramatically across her couch. “He won’t move, so I can’t get up!” She’s pretty sure ghosts aren’t corporeal.

But when she wakes up in the morning and is running late for rehearsal, the dishes are already washed, the floor is already swept, and a pot of coffee is ready. Klaus shrugs and says he went to sleep early and he couldn’t have possibly done any of that.

She does amazing in rehearsal one day and is so, so proud of herself. Vanya comes home excited to tell Klaus and play him the song, to show him how much she’s improved. But instead of Klaus, Vanya finds a note.

Written in his familiar chicken scratch (the chicken scratch he writes in purely to spite Dad) is, ‘*those thugs are probably gonna leave me alone now, so i’m gonna head out. i’ll miss you. and, yes, I’m the one who put the coffee on every morning.*

*xoxo*,

*klaus*.’

Like she didn’t know that already.

 

 

 

Vanya is twenty two when she goes looking for Klaus herself.

Sometimes, there are reports on the news of junkies found dead, and her heart stops for a moment before a name or appearance is given. Sometimes, she finds herself praying the next time she sees Klaus won’t be in a casket at a funeral her other siblings only attend out of obligation. Vanya is tired of it, so she takes it upon herself to find him. It goes terribly, until it doesn’t.

Perhaps exploring alleyways by her-5’3-self in the evening isn’t the best idea. But hey, she’s got a pocket knife and pepper spray, was raised with six superhero siblings, and *really* wants to find her brother alive instead of dead on the side of the street. So there’s that.

She has just reached the dead end of an alley and is about to turn around and go back home when it happens. There’s a strong push on her back and her face goes right into the brick wall in front of her. *Damn it*, she thinks, *how am I gonna explain that bruise?*Warm air hits her ear as her assailant whispers something absolutely disgusting. The words make her shiver, but she’s seen and heard a lot worse.

“God, your breath stinks,” she says, and she blames that impulsiveness on Too-Much-Klaus. The attacker growls and presses his body up against her and *oh fuck this is happening.*

Vanya panics for just a second but she pushes it down quickly and thinks of everything she knows that could possibly help her. Her hands are still settled in her hoodie pocket, and she considers her pocket knife and pepper spray for a moment. She runs through every possible way she could disarm this man or knock him unconscious.

She’s pretty sure she should be panicking a lot more than she actually is.

Just as his hands settle around her waist she pulls the knife out of her pocket, opens it, and swings wildly behind her. She’s pretty sure she doesn’t actually hit him - and if she does it isn’t anywhere near enough to really *hurt* him - but it works enough to startle him. He stumbles back a bit and it gives Vanya enough space to duck out of his hold and run away from the wall.

And she bumps straight into someone’s chest.

“Woah there!” The new man says, and at the sound of his voice Vanya almost starts crying, “Heard a commotion and wanted to see what was up, you know, I was feeling particularly like shit today so I figured why - why not, didn’t expect this-“

“Shut up and run, Klaus.”

Klaus lets her drag him behind her as she runs down the alley. It makes her feel odd, because action was always something strictly tied to missions, and she was always strictly tied to the mansion. “We could have - We could have *totally* taken that guy out in like a minute, Vaaan.”

“You’re high, and I’m tired. No.”

“Fair.”

After making it a considerable distance, they slow to a walk. Klaus looks around the city he grew up in as though he’s never seen it before, and Vanya has to wonder what the hell he’d taken. He’s stumbling and every once in a while, Vanya has to grab him by the back of his shirt to keep him upright. He wasn’t like this the last time she saw him.

Klaus wraps an arm around her shoulder, and if she didn’t know it was to keep himself standing she’d think he did it because he actually loves her. He laughs and points and smiles drunkenly at absolutely nothing across the street, and slurs something incoherent at whatever he thinks he’s seeing. Then he turns to his right and yells, “Shut the fuck up, Ben!”

For a moment, Vanya’s heart stops. She thinks for a second Ben really is there and Klaus really is talking to him. But he’s high and drunk as all hell, and if he’s talking to Ben it’s definitely not the real Ben.

“Come on, Klaus,” she says, tugging him along when he stops to argue with the Ben that isn’t really there, “We’ve gotta go home.”

Klaus crashes on her couch the second he stumbles into her little apartment. While he’s asleep, Vanya rifles through all the pockets in his ridiculous coat and pulls out all the pills and little baggies he has. They all, like last time, get thrown in the dumpster out back. Then she heads to bed.

She wakes up after noon the next day (thank god she doesn’t have rehearsal) and finds Klaus, stripped down to his underwear, curled up in a ball on the couch.

“Klaus!” She says, placing her hand cautiously on his shoulder. “Klaus, look at me.”

“Shut up!” He yells, then he lifts his head and meets Vanya’s eyes. “Sorry. Not you. The Swedish lady who used to live here.”

Oh. He’s - soberish. Less high than he was twelve hours ago, at least. And now the dead are coming for him.

Vanya stands and flicks on every light in the room, then throws the curtains open on every window. Klaus had once told her the light tended to make them go away, or at the very least made them a lot less aggressive. And it seemed that was true, because after a moment Klaus seemed to relax.

“Klaus, are you alright?” She asks, sitting down next to him. Her hand hovers over his back for a moment before it goes down to her lap.

“Yeah,” he says hoarsely, “I’m fine. Or I will be. You got any water?”

After Vanya supplies him with a tall glass of water and he downs the whole thing without pausing for breath, he says, “Play a song for me.”

She doesn’t question it, and instead crosses the room to retrieve her violin and bow. “Got a recommendation?” Klaus silently shakes his head, so she settles the violin where it belongs, and begins playing.

It’s slow at first, and she messes up more than once, but Klaus seems enthralled by it. As the tune picks up Klaus leans forward in his chair, hazel eyes wide and sparkling. Just like when they were kids, and not quite as fucked up.

When she finishes the song, Klaus reaches down and grabs his pants off the floor. Her eye is caught by the words written on his hands.

“You got tattoos?” She asks. Klaus blinks at her for a moment as though he doesn’t know what she’s talking about before realization dawns on him.

“Oh, these babies!” He says, holding up his hands, one palm reading *HELLO* and the other *GOODBYE*. Then he continues to pull on his unreasonably tight jeans. “Yeah, I had nothing else to do, figured they fit my ouija board aesthetic or whatever.”

“Huh.” Vanya says. The conversation lulls but it isn’t really awkward, because Vanya and Klaus are never awkward with each other.

Finally, Klaus reignites the conversation with,”What were you doing out that late last night?”

“Surprised you remember that,” Vanya dodges. Klaus gives her a deadpan look. Oh, how the tables have turned.

“Just tell me why,” he says, “Lying isn’t nice.”

“That’s rich, coming from you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Vanya sighs and threads her hoodie drawstring through her fingers. “I was looking for you.”

Klaus looks taken aback. He’s wide eyed and he pushes his body right to the back of the couch. There’s a moment of neither speaking, until Klaus breaks it by hissing at thin air. “Don’t be such a sap, *Ben*!”

And he’s sober - soberish this time.

Vanya puts her hand on Klaus’s knee. “Are you - you’re talking to Ben?” Her brother doesn’t answer for a moment, and he seems to be listening to nothing.

He’s been doing that since they were fifteen.

“Yeah,” Klaus says, “Yeah, I am. He says hi. And that he loves you. And that he’s sorry he left, and - I’m not saying that, Ben!”

“Not saying what?”

Klaus glares at air for a moment before his face twists and he says, “He also told me to tell you that I’m sorry for leaving you. And I am. I’m really sorry I broke my promise. Promises. But I’m not sorry about leaving any of those other shitheads.”

She stares at him for a moment, shocked. Then she stands and says, “Apology accepted. Do you want some peanut butter?” Klaus grins and follows her to the kitchen, and they - the three of them - spend hours catching up.

Three days later, he leaves in the middle of the night. There isn’t a note, but there’s a brand new jar of peanut butter on her coffee table.

She doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry, because leaving a jar of peanut butter in place of a note is something only Klaus would do.

 

 

 

They are twenty five when Vanya releases *Extra Ordinary.* None of her siblings have spoken to her since they were eighteen, excluding Klaus and Ben, and now that she’s done this she thinks even they won’t be coming back.

*That’s okay,* she tells herself, *none of them cared about me anyway.* But it doesn’t feel okay.

Right now, she is reading part of her book to a small audience in a cozy bookstore down the street from her apartment. It’s taken several readings to make it so her voice doesn’t shake, but she’s proud of herself for keeping it steady this time around.

“...Then there’s Number Four, Klaus,” she reads, “He can conjure the dead. Klaus was - is - an anomaly to me. He and Ben were the only ones who were outright kind to me throughout our childhood, without fail, and Klaus is the only one I’ve even talked to since leaving the Academy. He pumps his body full of poison to escape his own powers. From what I can tell, talking to the dead isn’t anything near enjoyable.

“Five, teleportation. He was always too smart for his own good. He was rude to me, but he was also rude to everybody. He was convinced he would be able to perform time travel. One day, he had an argument with Dad about it, and ran away. We never saw him again, and we can only assume he did just what he’d always wanted: time travel, and he was unable to return to us.

“Six, Ben. He had... extra appendages in the form of tentacles that protruded from his torso. He was killed when we were fifteen. But when he was alive, he was so good. He never wanted to be a hero, just not the kind of hero Dad envisioned him as. He was always so hesitant to hurt anyone on missions, and yet he was always the one who ended up having to kill the majority of the ‘bad guys’.

“And then there’s me. Ordinary,. When my brothers and sister were on missions, I was confined to the mansion, studying or practicing the violin. Due to my lack of powers, I was left out of almost everything.

“I am not in any of the Hargreeves family pictures.”

 

Klaus just about tackles her when she is on her way home that evening. The street is mostly empty, and he wraps an arm around her shoulders without warning just as he had last time they met and pulls her forward so that she nearly falls over.

“I read your little book,” he says. She can smell the alcohol on his breath, and if it was anyone else, she might be scared. But it’s Klaus, and no matter how angry he is, Klaus would never hurt her. “It sure was something.”

“Are you angry, Klaus?” She asks, trying her best to keep her voice steady and her eyes ahead. But she can feel the familiar itch of anxiety, starting in her fidgeting hands and making its way through her veins.

“Not really. Annoyed, yeah. A lot. Almost as annoyed as I was that one time Dad had Luther throw out all the skirts I’d hidden. But no, I’m not *angry*.” Klaus yawns and scratches at his scruff with the hand not on her shoulder, then he moves it down to hold onto his skirt as a gust of wind comes through. He’s faking at being disinterested - it works on most people, even her siblings (well, except Ben), but it doesn’t work on her. She’s tried every trick in the book to seem more confident.

“But?”

“But nothing. That was ballsy. You said some shit about me, but it was all true, and it was no where *near* as bad as the shit you said about the others. Which was *all true!*And you were really nice to Ben, which is good, because he’s done nothing wrong literally ever. And, hey, way to be petty! I can get behind pettiness.”

He rambles all of this at top speed, but over the years Vanya has become an expert at Klaus-Talk.

“So what are you up to these days?” Vanya asks in an attempt to change the subject, even though she knows she won’t like the answer one bit.

Klaus waves his hand around in the air as though he is swatting a fly and says, “Oh, you know, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Anyway, let’s talk about you! How’s your violin stuff going?”

She knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that that answer confirms her fears, that Klaus was still out there getting high and drunk and wasting his life away, poisoning himself. However, instead of mentioning it she says, “Pretty good. Still third chair, but I have an audition this weekend that could get me moved up to second.”

“Good, good,” Klaus says, and then he pats her on the back and says, “Well, I’ve gotta get going.”

Vanya stops dead in her tracks. “You’re leaving? Already?”

“Uh, yeah?” He begins to walk backwards away from her.

“But, Klaus, you can’t - you can’t just *leave*.”

“Sure I can, I’m an adult.” Klaus lifts the hand that says *GOODBYE* and waves. ”Ben and I love you, peace!” Then he turns and runs off to God knows where, leaving Vanya staring stupidly after him.

“...I love you too,” she whispers to the dark.

 

 

 

When they are twenty seven, Klaus sneaks into Vanya’s concert.

She is still sitting in third chair, as she has been for years now. But she puts her heart and soul into this performance (she really loves the piece they’re playing) and she thinks she sounds great. Then she comes home to Klaus sitting outside her door (wearing a pink, cropped tank top, too many necklaces, super skinny jeans, and chunky green converse, which is interesting).

“Klaus? What are you doing here?” She asks, nudging him with her foot so that he’ll move and let her open the door.

He looks at her with half lidded eyes and says, “I watched your performance.”

“Oh?” Vanya pushes the door open a bit and peers inside before she steps in all the way. It’s a habit that had been drilled into her since birth.

“Yeah.” Klaus follows her into the apartment and doesn’t wait for her to say ‘Make yourself at home!’ before he is taking his shoes off and flopping onto the couch. “Snuck in. Would’ve bought a ticket, but I blew all my money on - I didn’t have any enough money, I mean.”

Vanya’s eyebrows are practically in her hairline. “Blew your money on *what now*?”

“Fun.” Vanya has to pick up his legs and move him so that she has room to sit down, and then he ends up putting them right on her lap anyway. “Your playing is really good, and you already sounded like fucking Mozart before.”

“Sure I did.”

“You really did! Ben agrees with me!” He wiggles his socked toes to emphasize.

Just as she scoffs, there’s a heavy pound on her front door. Vanya groans and pushes Klaus’s legs off of her. She’d *just* sat down. “Mrs. Kowalski.”

“Mrs. Kowalski?” Klaus asks.

Vanya opens the door and gives Mrs. Kowalski a withering look she’s sure the other woman is oblivious to. “No, Mrs. Kowalski, I haven’t seen your cat-“

“I brought cookies!” The woman exclaims, shouldering past her into the apartment. She spots Klaus lounging on the couch and gasps, “Oh, have you finally gotten a boyfriend?”

They both splutter for a moment before Vanya manages to speak, “Mrs. Kowalski, we’re sib-“

“Oh, you make such an adorable couple! I mean, you have such an extreme height difference-!”

Klaus absolutely *screeches* as he rolls off the couch. “Listen, ma’am, I’m gay. Like super gay. And I’m also her brother. So, no, not happening.” He shoots a glare over Mrs. Kowalski’s shoulder and Vanya just knows Ben is laughing his ass off.

Mrs. Kowalski blinks like an owl and then looks at Klaus’s outfit, and really Vanya doesn’t know how the woman missed it.

“Oh.” Mrs. Kowalski places the plate of cookies on the coffee table. “I have to go. Bye, dears.” Then she rushes out the door.

Once Mrs. Kowalski is out the door Vanya turns to Klaus. “Did you really have to say that? Like was it really necessary? You couldn’t have just said ‘we’re siblings’ and left it at that?”

“What if she thought we were intermarrying? No, I had clarify,” Klaus jokes, giving her a stupid smirk.

“Oh my *god*, you’re insane. Remind me why we still hang out?”

“Because I won’t leave you alone.” Klaus says, laying back on the couch. Vanya doesn’t bother to move his legs, instead sitting right on them.

“You have stick legs.”

“Shut up.”

Klaus heads out an hour later.

 

 

 

They are thirty when Dad dies. They are thirty when Klaus fights in the Vietnam War. They are thirty when Vanya causes the apocalypse.

 

 

 

They are thirty when they are put back in their thirteen year old bodies.

Dad is in for a shock. Apparently, their thirteen year old selves were in the middle of dinner. But instead of eating his meal, Klaus immediately throws himself out of his chair and at Vanya.

“Number Four!” Dad yells, “Number Four, what are you doing?!” God, he’s going to have to deal with this asshole again.

Allison grabs at the back of Klaus’s shirt but her fingers fall short. “Don’t hurt her!”

Klaus is, honestly, offended that his sister thinks he would ever do that. He gathers his unconscious sister in his arms and when Luther tries to approach her he growls viciously at him.

“Klaus, don’t be an animal,” Ben says, but he stands in between Luther and Vanya. “But at the same time, fuck you Luther.”

“Children, this is highly unacceptable!” Dad screams, standing from his seat. “All of you go to your rooms, now!”

The ‘children’ share a look, and Klaus honestly can’t believe that after all these years they can still do silent communication. But it seems they’ve decided to listen to Dad for now, because his sibling start to scatter. Klaus pulls Vanya out of her chair and begins to drag her to the stairs (thank God she’s so tiny).

“And just what do you think you’re doing, Four?” Dad asks. Klaus ignores him and instead sends Mom, who stands hesitantly at the top of the stairs, a smile.

“Number Four!”

“I’m bringing Vanya to her room!”

Dad continues to yell and Klaus doesn’t grace him with a response as he climbs the stairs. Instead, he allows Mom to help him bring Vanya down the hall.

“All your siblings are in Luther’s room,” she says. Klaus sighs. He’d rather not let Luther anywhere near Vanya, but everyone needs to be together right now.

Five and Ben are standing in the hall outside Luther’s room when they arrive, and Mom leaves them. Klaus hopes Dad isn’t too angry at her.

“Is she alright?” Five asks. He’s the only one Klaus can look at right now, because he’s the only one who looks the same. (Even though Klaus knows if he was to look in the mirror right now he’d be all lanky limbs that are too long for his body, like a newborn calf.)

“I think so,” Klaus says. He holds tight to Vanya as he enters the room and shoots a glare at Luther, who looks like a kicked puppy where he sits on the bed.

“Let’s go to bed, everyone,” Allison says. There’s a pile of blankets and pillows on the floor, and Klaus finds a comfortable place in the corner. He situates Vanya in between him and Ben. Luther and Allison, unsurprisingly, take the bed, and Diego lays just a few feet away from Klaus, Ben, and Vanya. Five slumps against the wall just by the door, guarding his siblings.

 

Vanya is the first to wake up, and she is screaming.

Klaus snaps awake and is over Vanya in a second, pulling her up to his chest. Ben wakes quickly, too, and Klaus can barely believe it when he can *feel* Ben’s arms wrap around them. Then Five, Diego, and Allison are sitting next to them, and Luther is standing awkwardly at the side of his bed.

“You’re alright, Van, you’re good,” Klaus whispers. As she screams, the books on the shelves around them start to rattle. *Oh, shit.*

“Allison!” Ben exclaims. Allison shakes her head frantically.

“I can’t-“

“Allison, you can do it just this once,” Five says, “We’ll help her learn how to control her powers so you never have to again. *Please,* or the apocalypse is coming again.”

Did - Did *Five* just say please?

“I heard a rumor,” Allison chokes, “I heard a rumor that you were calm.” As soon as - whatever that golden light coming out of Allison’s mouth is hits Vanya’s ears, her screams stop and her breathing calms. Now she is sobbing quietly to herself, but it is much better than a moment ago. Ben removes his arms; Klaus continues to hold on tight.

“Klaus,” Vanya whispers. She looks so tiny in his arms, and he has to remind himself she’s in her thirteen year old body.

“Everything’s alright, Vanya.”

Vanya laughs. “Isn’t it usually me telling you that?”

“Eh.”

Vanya detaches herself from Klaus and stands on shaking legs. Ben holds his hands out as though to catch her if she falls.

“Vanya,” Luther says, taking a hesitant step forward. In an instant, Klaus has a hand on her shoulder, Ben is braced to fight, and their other siblings are standing protectively in front of Vanya.

“You would all be filling my heart with pride, if I had a heart,” Klaus says. Ben and Vanya both slap him on the back of the head. It was worth it.

“Vanya, I’m sorry,” Luther says. Klaus and Five scoff, and Klaus gives Five a big thumbs up.

“I came to you for help,” Vanya says. Klaus is truly amazed at how calm she’s being. “I came to you for *help*. And you locked me up, just like Dad.”

“Wreck him, Van,” Klaus whispers.

“Children, what is the meaning of this?” Oh, fuck. Dad is standing in the doorway.

“Dad,” Vanya says, grinning, and Klaus squeezes her shoulder, “Don’t you think we should train my powers today?”

**Author's Note:**

> hope u enjoyed cuz this is like the longest thing i’ve ever written
> 
> tumblr - luciimarii


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